By TCC Staff
April 2019
Have you ever asked yourself why you should meditate? Or you like the idea but just find it too hard to concentrate? Learn more about the top 30 meditation apps, and maybe you will find the answer to all your questions.
We all know how meditation has helped calm minds and improve focus through thousands of years. For most of us, however, it is hard to quiet distracting thoughts and channel our minds to a singular focus. Meditation sounds simple, but when your thoughts are running at a dozen a second, it isn’t an effective method. Thankfully we live in a digital age and are immersed in innovative technologies for the aspect of our lives including meditation.
Meditation apps are designed for digital nomads like us who have a hard time controlling pesky thoughts from getting in and ruining our attempts of mind control. They act like the Zen masters helping to rewire the brain and fire up areas in it to calm the nervous system.
The benefits of meditation are many. It helps curb anxiety and restlessness, reduces pain, curbs depression by increasing happiness. A happy mind and healthy body are intrinsically connected with wholesome living. Calming your mind is as important as working out for it promotes better sleep, improves mental focus, lowers blood pressure, boosts heart and immune health and even slows aging. Despite being aware of these benefits, we find it tough to pick up a new habit in the midst of our busy lives. This is where these meditation apps come in to do the heavy lifting and breathe a little calm into our days. Most are very user-friendly and helps us keep track of our progress with the journey and stats pages and reward system.
In this article, we have explored the top 30 meditation apps for iPhone and Android which will help you meditate more effectively. Read to find out more about each, their features, benefits, pros and cons, and how much they cost.
#30 Pranayama
Rating-3.6
Available for both iPhone and Android
Cost: Free/$4.99
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Pranayama stems from the philosophy of yoga and is essentially a deep breathing exercise to channelize positive energy throughout the body. The app combines technology with this breathing control exercises for users. It guides them toward slower, deeper breathing which will calm the mind down and relax the body. Users can count their inhalations and exhalations according to a fixed ratio with the help of different sounds that identify the right times to inhale and exhale. These breathing techniques are approved by ancient traditions and corroborated by modern science for their effectiveness. Together they use the power of breathing to let users slowly get onto the path of holistic wellness and good living. It is supposed to be the most straightforward and yet most effective way to meditate and is often favored by those who like to live well but are too busy to set aside a time to meditate every day.
#29 Samten
Rating-4.3
Available for both iPhone and Android
Cost: $10.49 monthly/$61.99 annual
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Samten is a relatively new app which offers mindfulness for daily life guided by the Buddhist monk, Geelong Thubten. It stands out for offering 50% of profits towards developing mindfulness and wellbeing projects and for offering the free Samten junior version. It is attractive for families and designed to help younger generations achieve that state of calm in the midst of such distractions and stress. Being guided by a practitioner steeped in the Buddhist doctrine and traditional practices ensures that you train with the right meditation practices and once you start it becomes a sustainable habit. Though it is pricier than other apps, it offers quality sessions that serious meditation enthusiast would prefer. There is a 30-day challenge along with regular 5 to 10-minute sessions.
#28 Serene Mind
Rating-4.4
Available for both iPhone and Android
Cost: $1.99
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Serene Mind is a meditation guide app that focuses on deep breathing and helps to turn away from the distractions of the outside world. Users can do so by focusing on an expanding and contracting ball which is calibrated to their own breathing rate. Along with soft ambient music playing in the background, this helps slow down their mind and achieve a state of deep sleep or relaxation. The app offers a log to help track progress and see how one’s pulse and breathing rate will slow over time. There is also a built-in sleep timer for those who want to use this application to fall asleep. The app is fast becoming a favorite with experts and beginners alike. It is easy to use and easy to get started on the meditation routine by giving them a focal point during meditation. Recorded data like meditation times, breathing rate changes and pulse rates provide long-term feedback and help to make this routine more effective.
#27 ENSO
Rating-4.4
Available for iPhone
Cost: Free/$2.99 FOR ENSO PRO
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Ensō is a timer app with a sleek and elegant interface that allows users to get into the habit of meditation right away. They can see their progress and performance through the dashboard of progress indicators that records everything from stats to social sharing. The meditation timer allows the user to set a preparation time, a time to meditate and an “interval” time in between which will enable one to refocus during each session. The beautiful and soothing bells help guide the sessions, calm the mind and helps one stay focused as well. The Zen circle motif in a red ring that corresponds with the time adds to the feeling of peace and mindfulness. The free version comes with one satisfactory default bell; additional ones are payable. Users can save their settings as morning or evening presets through a smart and straightforward interface.
#26 Walking Meditations
Rating-4.4
Available for both iPhone and Android
Cost: $1.99
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Walking Meditations, as the name suggests, is the perfect companion for users on their daily walks. It not only brings the meditative experience into daily activity but also motivates one to perform better. The benefits of meditation are many and users with time constraints find this app to be extremely helpful. User reviews show that this app has been of immense benefit to those who don’t like to walk or exercise a lot but with this app have quickly gotten into the habit of doing so. The soothing melodies help them tread more steps easily, from trails around the neighborhood to the long forest walks. It is an intuitive app that mentally challenges the user to get up and get going and walk more every day. It transforms the idea and experiences of exercise from boring to enjoyable in a matter of days.
#25 Welzen
Rating-4.5
Available for both iPhone and Android
Cost: Free with limited features/$12.99 per month/$59.99 per year/$149.99 lifetime
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Welzen is designed to help you kick off each day with new mindfulness meditation. The curated 10-minute meditation helps to start each day with the right mindset. There are single meditations that range from 5 to 20 minutes and packaged sessions. Each meditation session is packaged in programs with subject-specific series and come with specific intentions. There are special features like meditations in Spanish, meditations for kids and even micro-meditations or SOS meditations for a mental boost or a quick calming session. The app is regularly updated with new series that focus on different topics, themes, and activities, all targeted at making you happier in 10 minutes. Users have the option to choose their area of focus for five-day streaks which include creativity, anxiety, and relationships. They can also simply choose the Just Breathe program to stop and take a moment during the day to just be.
#24 Omvana
Rating- 4.5
Available for both iPhone and Android
Cost: Free
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Omvana is designed for the eclectic meditator who is looking for the perfect meditation session to match a specific mood. Programs vary in length, and one can tailor the background music as well. The app contains thousands of audio tracks, sounds, and beats that can be blended together in the app’s mixing board to create customized tracks for users. They can even record their voices if they are in a mood for it. Users can choose from a wide range of specialized meditations that taught by a variety of instructors, meditate based on their stress levels via HealthKit. The app is fully customizable and is known to create a more relaxing, enjoyable meditation experience for its users. The user-friendly app with its clean interface with appealing graphics contains featured programs to help one become more mindful.
#23 The Breathing App
Rating-4.6
Available only for iOS devices
Cost: Free
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The Breathing App is quite unique since it focuses on breathing rather than go straight into meditation. It trains users to practice breathing at a rate of 5 to 7 breaths per minute, a specific kind of breathwork called resonant breathing. Buddhist monks use this pace which is why it effectively leads to successful meditation sessions. Created by yogi Eddie Stern and bestselling author Deepak Chopra, it is a hugely popular app as well which is known for its simplicity and great for quick, on-the-go usage. Research shows that resonant breathing can lower blood pressure, improve heart rate variability, reduce inflammation, calm the nervous system, and even opens up the possibility of brain entrainment with the right sound option. However, there are no guided meditations, so those who have trouble controlling the mind may get easily distracted. The breathing exercise, however, is unique as it has a mesmerizing ball that gets bigger when you inhale and smaller when you exhale. Focusing on the ball leads to a hypnotic calming state. The musical timer helps you switch out of this Zen-like state when you are done.
#22 Smiling Mind
Rating-4.6
Available for both iPhone and Android
Cost: Free/$2.99–$4.99
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Smiling Mind stands out by being a family app rather than just a single user app like the others. The science-backed app allows users to have sub-accounts for family members which helps turn meditation into family practice. Parents love it because this is a positive activity they can share with their kids that benefits all. Kids need meditation just as much we do to tackle a large amount of stress in their lives. The increasing pressure at school, busy schedules, career outlook and overstimulation from electronic devices have added to their stress levels. The structured meditation program for kids of different age groups is designed to help kids stop and meditate. The sets of calming music will soothe their nerves and get them acclimatized to the practice of meditation. Users can check in to track their progress and manage their meditation practice. Educators can use it as a classroom tool and make meditation education part of their classroom activities.
#21 Aura: Mindfulness Daily
Rating-4.7
Available for both iPhone and Android
Cost: Free/$11.99 per month/ $94.99 per year
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Aura is designed for busy individuals who don’t have time for meditation. The website says that the app has the power to help people feel better in just three minutes. Aura’s steady stream of daily “micro” meditations range between three and seven minutes. For times when even three minutes is too long, the user can opt for 30-second anxiety-busting breathing exercises. There is a free version that includes three-minute guided meditations, gratitude reflections and mood tracking among other features. The premium option offers 24/7 meditations ranging between three and seven minutes, comprehensive mood tracking, the option to save meditations and much more. There are thousands of wellness content for users to access and these are constantly updated to match the increasing users’ interests.
#20 The Mindfulness App
Rating- 4.7
Available for both iPhone and Android
Cost: Free/$9.99 per month/$59.99 per year
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The Mindfulness App is designed to be a simple and straightforward way to begin a meditation journey. It is also intended to help users stay on track and keep up with this life-changing habit.
Meditations sessions range from 3 to 30 minutes and come with scheduled reminders, a customizable timer, and a journey tracker. One can get started with a free version which has an introduction to mindfulness and a 5-day guided practice. The premium version comes with over 200 audio meditations and courses. The app’s tagline is – Meditation for Everyone. The vastly expansive content has something for everyone in the app’s library to suit all levels and types of meditators. It is very user-friendly and is considered a perfect tool for anyone looking to improve mental health and overall wellbeing.
#19 Simply Being
Rating-4.7
Available for both iPhone and Android
Cost: $1.99
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Created by Richard and Mary Maddux, this app comes across as the calming voice that guides one through a meditation session to stay on track and find calm more quickly. The Maddux’s are known for the popular Meditation Oasis podcast. The app lets users pick a session length, opt for a guide and add soothing, natural sounds to the sessions. Music and nature sounds, soothing graphics or the option to stream the audio for some cool background music all blend in to help one relax. The app is designed to gently encourage the users to meditate regularly by nudging them towards the direction of daily meditation practice at different times of the day. They can also customize the length of meditations to match their busy schedules.
Featured Programs
#18 Breethe
Rating-4.7
Available for both iPhone and Android
Cost: Free/$ 5.92 per month
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Breethe is a popular and highly rated app that is designed to help beginners start on this track, stay on and become successful in their meditation efforts. The mindfulness and meditation techniques help users to get into a meditation routine in just 10 minutes, and ease of use helps people to meditate more regularly. Content is tailored for different times of the day, emotions and situations all of which are customized and follows users throughout the day, from the time they wake up to the time they go to sleep. The fully customizable, free app offers five-minute meditations which include feeling love, tips for overcoming the pressure and living with intention and inner peace. It is a user-friendly app that provides supportive tools and guidance to help one stay on track with meditation practices throughout the day. One can opt for the free version or get a premium subscription.
#17 Breathing Zone
Rating-4.7
Available for both iPhone and Android
Cost: $3.99
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Breathing Zone offers detailed instructions for various meditation sessions and even has a Breathing Analyzer to help measure one’s breathing rate. The therapeutic breathing benefits of the app lead to positive brain and mood states. It is known to actually help decrease heart rate and lower high blood pressure by helping one reach a state of calm faster. Online reviews show that users had found immense benefits even when they were in excruciating pain, a feature that has made this app a favorite of medical professionals as well. The detailed instructions are helpful for beginners, but for regular users, it is useful as well since it keeps track of their wellness activity in the background as they go on with their daily work.
#16 iMindfulness by Mindfulness-MBSR.com
Rating- 4.7
Available for both iPhone and Android
Cost: $9.99 per app
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iMindfulness is designed for beginners to learn mindfulness meditation and is available in English, Danish, and Norwegian. It is also a great app for professionals and regular meditators who want to keep their practice relevant. The app contains three guided meditations including breath meditation, power pause, and body scan all of which come with timer and reminders that help users create a regular mindfulness practice routine. The popular meditation and mindfulness app contains practices that help people during difficult times when they are facing stress and anxiety. The calming sessions allow people to take a step back to get a new perspective. Users can keep a record of how long and how often they have practiced their meditation, allowing people to track their progress. There are a variety of in-app purchases that cover specific areas to help support one’s well-being. These help users explore mindfulness even further ranging from kindness and recognizing inner strengths to achieving peace.
#15 OMG! I Can Meditate
Rating-4.7
Available for both iPhone and Android
Cost: Free/$12.99 monthly/$89.99 annual
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OMG, I Can Meditate offers sessions broken down by interest and life events like loss or serious illness, or an ongoing effort like weight loss. It can teach anyone to mediate in just 10 minutes a day. Reviews show how users have benefited from it immensely and have woken up more mindfully after only a few sessions, and some say that they feel invigorated and energized even at the end of a long day because at the core of it induces high levels of mind and body relaxation. There’s an option to complete a seven-day challenge after one dips one’s toes into the waters of meditation and opts for the paid version. If we go by the reviews; however, it seems users are convinced about the app’s effectiveness and don’t mind forking out a few extra dollars for the added features.
#14 Sattva Meditations & Mantras
Rating-4.8
Available for iOS devices
Cost: Free/$108 for lifetime subscription
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Sattva is a popular and intuitive app that offers a slew of features and preloaded exercises included with timers and chants. The app’s goal is to motivate users to meditate every day. There are options to participate in challenges and receive trophies for taking on new ones. Users can check their heart rates via the app and get extensive information on how meditation can lead to long term wellness and overall well-being. They can begin with the free version and then subscribe for even more features. The standard Sattva components include pre-loaded guided meditations and chants, mood trackers along with timers. The paid version offers customizable options that can help users find the best version of themselves with its inspiring daily meditations.
#13 Meditation Studio
Rating- 4.8
Available for both iPhone and Android
Cost: Free/$$49.99 annual fee
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If you like a more traditional style of meditation, then Meditation Studio is your app. It has an introductory series with the licensed psychologist and co-founder of The Center for Mindful Living, Dr. Elisha Goldstein. In this series, the user is guided through ten days of meditation where they focus on breathing and try to cultivate energy, calm, and compassion. Then there is the Discover series which includes a number of tracks n anxiety, negative thoughts, stress and sleep among others and features famous teachers like Faith Hunter and Chrissy Carter. It is a serious app for experienced meditators who are already familiar with the basics of mindfulness and breath awareness techniques. If you want to preview what the paid app has to offer, then you can opt for a trial version which also includes a meditation for kids and one for college students. The free meditations can last up to 33 minutes which can be hard for beginners but it an excellent training to begin with. Advanced meditators have the option to set a timer and pick their own background music for an unguided session.
#12 Stop, Breathe and Think
Rating-4.8
Available for both iPhone and Android
Cost: Free/$10 a month
Created by the nonprofit, Tools for Peace, this app is the epitome of guiding users towards peace, compassion, and calmness. Just as the name suggests, Stop, Breathe & Think doesn’t want you to dive right in. Instead, the app seeks to create a more deliberate, intentional experience for its users. The intuitively designed app begins with a section called Learn to Meditate that explains what mindfulness is and why it’s beneficial, including some of the neuroscience and physiology behind it. Users begin with awareness and armed with knowledge via the Basics page. They can rate their mind and body and note up to five emotions via the Check In screen. The app then recommends yoga videos, meditations, and acupressure videos tailored to each user’s state of mind. The progress page tracks the time spent meditating and also shows the “Weekly Settledness” score. There are also 15 no-nonsense guided meditations that focus on a single concept each. It has 34 free sessions which vary in length and nature.
#11 10% Happier
Rating- 4.8
Available for both iPhone and Android
Cost: Free one-week trial/$99.99 annual fee /$14.99 a month for full access
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As the very name suggests, this app offers more than a Zen-like state. It opens up possibilities to not just calm the mind but achieve real happiness like looking inwards. 10% Happier is one to try if you are looking to dive deeper into your meditation practice. The meditation app is based on the book by ABC news anchor Dan Harris. It offers over 350 guided meditations along with video courses with meditation experts. It provides no-nonsense, relatable and a straightforward method to learn mindfulness for people who have trouble calming their minds, or for those who are more interested in sharpening their brains than connecting with their souls. What’s unique is that the app comes with a tour guide. The app’s extensive library of video courses offers in-depth information on topics like how best to maximize your practice as well as the science behind meditating.
#10 Simple Habit
Rating-4.8
Available for both iPhone and Android
Cost: One-month free trial /$11.99 per month /$99.96 per year
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Simple Habit, as the name suggests, trains the user to form a habit surrounding meditation. Designed by Harvard psychologist Yunha Kim, it gives users five-minute long daily meditations for specific situations in their lives. They can use this app to meditate any time and deal with stress from their commute to a tough day at work. It comes with a 30-day free trial and is particularly popular with daily commuters. It is specially designed for busy people who find it hard to take time off their busy schedules to meditate but need it even more. The 5-minute meditation sessions will help them stress less, live better, healthier lives and achieve more out of their lives. The app contains over 2,000 short meditations as well as audio therapy sessions that offer a practical way to combat anxiety, stress and mental distraction. Produced by world-class experts, these sessions have shown users some really powerful and effective ways to calm their minds and manage their stress.
#9 Buddhify
Rating- 4.8
Available for both iPhone and Android
Cost: $2.99–$4.99
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Buddhify is a popular app that offers customized meditation options that fits a particular moment. Users can select from a color wheel of symptoms and daily activities that covers 15 different parts of your day including being online, taking a work break, traveling, and going to sleep. Activities range from a pulse check on one’s well-being to de-stressing in a particular situation. The app begins by asking what one is doing at that present moment and then suggests a meditation that fits that moment. Whether one is traveling or on a break, there are sessions specifically designed for each situation. The app is growing in popularity and is known to be a big hit for helping people sleep better, de-stress, and create more awareness and compassion by offering mindfulness & meditation anytime, anywhere. It has over 80 custom guided audio meditation tracks that are super convenient and beautifully designed to fit anyone’s lifestyle. It is known as the best value meditation app around with no hidden charges and includes features like tracking meditation time and building one’s practice streak with Buddhify’s check-in section.
#8 MINDBODY
Rating-4.8
Available for both iPhone and Android
Cost: Free
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MINDBODY is an app with a difference because it offers users easy and accessible options to look for and choose a new trainer, class, or fitness studio. The goal of the app is to connect users with wellness in a variety of forms. Users can search through the extensive database and book from a multitude of fitness classes like Pilates, yoga, barre, or CrossFit. It is designed to help users manage their fitness routine through an exercise tracker. It also sports special features like accessing discount deals for exercise classes. One unique feature that makes this wellness app stand out is the way it helps businesses seamlessly connect with wellness services. It offers a comprehensive wellness package for business in this niche which they can use to provide their customers as well as employees a more holistic experience. It brings together hundreds of passionate health and wellness professionals through this easy to use platform.
#7 Calm
Rating-4.8
Available for both iPhone and Android
Cost: $59.99 annually/$399 for lifetime access
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Calm is fast becoming a name to reckon with in the world of apps. Mostly because it offers much more than meditation. Along with guided meditations, it has a mix of music, soothing nature sounds, and even soothing bedtime stories to help users sleep. Users have the option to tune in to master classes offered by health and wellness experts like Shawn Achor and Elizabeth Gilbert. The app goes beyond structured meditation, so there is something for everyone here. It has a free 7-day trial version, and then one can subscribe for a flat fee of $59.99 a year. You can get guided sessions that range from 2-30 minutes and these include basic mindfulness practices, quick 3-minute meditation to a half-hour set, practices for cultivating awareness, returning to the breath when the mind wanders, 7 Days of Sleep and Calming Anxiety sessions, options for silent meditation or meditate to intermittent bells, and even training for how to bounce back when the brain switches into “autopilot mode.”
#6 Andrew Johnson
Rating-4.8
Available for both iPhone and Android
Cost: Free/$4.99
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Andrew Johnson’s popularity is understandable. It blends Sean Connery’s deep and soothing voice to help calm users whenever they need to reach that Zen state of mind. The clinical hypnotherapist Andrew Johnson has worked hand in hand with the celeb Scotsman to create a variety of apps that lead to relaxation, confidence, deep sleep, positivity, success, and even weight loss. The app is designed to help one reach a state of sleep easily and yet have the mind process the meditative thoughts. It also allows users to disconnect from their dependence on devices, a problem we all face today. One can choose from a variety of settings from sleep to walking and even mediations during a coffee break.
#5 Inscape
Rating-4.8
Available for iOS devices
Cost: Free/$58.99 for a year’s access
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Inscape offers users their daily recommendations for a get-calm session with which they can start the day. They end their day with a five-minute pre-bedtime breathing exercise. They have the option to do that earlier in the evening as well. The music tracks are all super soothing and designed to lead to sound-focused meditation for winding down and help users reach deep sleep. They can start with the five-day introductory series to relieve stress and then opt for more sessions. Users say that using Inscape has completely changed the way they think of meditation and wellness and that the app has been instrumental in veering them onto the path of holistic wellbeing. In short, it is self-care for healthy living.
#4 Relax Melodies
Rating-4.8
Available for both iPhone and Android
Cost: Free/$9.99-$19.99
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Relax Melodies offers gentle tunes and soothing sounds to help lull users into a deep sleep. Users can name and customize their sleeping soundtrack either using the app’s original tracks or by making their own. They can even choose relaxing images of scenery and nature from the app’s library to help calm the brain and drift off into slumber. Over 30 million user reviews show that the app has been beneficial for those who have insomnia and those people are now benefiting from deep, uninterrupted sleep every night. A combination of 100 relaxation sounds, binaural beats melodies, and white noise lead to very relaxing soundscapes. Users have the option to customize their soundtracks and even the duration of the play with the help of the built-in timer. These guided sleep meditations have been known to help people suffering tinnitus and stress as well.
#3 Meditable
Rating- 4.9
Available for iOS devices
Cost: 14-day free trial/$6.49 per month (limited offer)/$77.88 per year
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Meditable is a relatively young app that is attracting lots of attention and earning rave reviews for bringing unprecedented customization into meditation. One can choose from different areas like study and work performance, confidence, health, stress-relief, productivity, and sleep among others. Any area that you think you want to improve upon, you can choose and start on it. Once the area is selected, users can pull from tracks of different meditations that range in length from three to eight minutes which they can add to their intro and ending. There are a number of scientific techniques to choose from to create a personalized meditation session and make the most out of one’s time. One can start with the 14-day free trial and then has to choose from monthly or yearly premium access options.
#2 Insight Timer
Rating- 4.9
Available for both iPhone and Android
Cost: Free/$4.99
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If you like meditating and also enjoy a community feel, then this is the app for you. Its vast library has 3,000 guided meditations for users to choose from and over 2,600 teachers with whom they can connect and discuss topics that range from stress, creativity, relationships, motivations and much more. The app feels like a community because right as you log in, you can see how many people are meditating at that moment around the world. With over 5 million users from around the world, it is never short of numbers, and that acts as a positive inspiration for new users as well. Once a user’s session is over, he/she will be informed of how many people were meditating at the same time, what music they listened to and even regions. You can follow your favorite teachers and keep up with the content. Those who like it quieter, can set a timer and meditate to intermittent bells or calming ambient noise. The hugely popular Insight Courses have 10-15 minutes of audio per day along with group discussions. but they are totally optional. There are hundreds of free music tracks to soothe your mind or help you sleep, and free talks and podcasts for life advice and inspiration.
#1 Headspace
Rating-4.9
Available for both iPhone and Android
Cost: 12.99 a month/$399 for lifetime access
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Headspace is by far one of the most popular apps in this niche. It has been trending for some time now and with more celebs claiming to use it, it’s popularity is here to stay. It boasts of over 30 million members. It is the brainchild of a former Tibetan Buddhist monk which probably explains why it is so effective. There is a free option which offers a 10-day trial pack or a mini-meditation like guided breathing exercise for a short duration of 3-5 minutes. If you want more, then you have to opt for the pay version and get access to the app’s library of hundreds of meditations. It is a bit on the expensive side for an app, but that hasn’t deterred users for Headspace boasts of over 1 million paying subscribers.